Gov’t drums up PH growth outlook in HK, US
T he Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) have drummed up the Philippines’ robust growth outlook before the institutional investors during a series of one-on-one meetings in Hong Kong and the United States last month.
The Philippine delegation, led by National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon and BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo, visited the cities of Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia from October 15 to 23 where they discussed the country’s economic updates.
During the nine-day non-deal roadshows, Guinigundo discussed economic updates and the country’s positive growth prospects supported by sound macroeconomic fundamentals and important policy reforms.
The central bank official communicated that the Philippines is expected to continue to outperform most emerging markets in terms of economic growth and resilience to external shocks in the years ahead.
During the meetings, Guinigundo cited rising government and private-sector investments, as well as improving labor productivity as some growth drivers.
He likewise stressed the country’s strong external payments position, supported by steady foreign exchange inflows and prudent external account management to maintain Philippine resilience to external shocks.
Guinigundo also discussed the inflation outlook, which this year accelerated due to supply side factors and rising global oil prices, and is expected to return to within the target range of 2.0 percent to 4.0 percent beginning 2019.
Committed to its price stability mandate, the BSP took a series of policy rate hikes totaling 150 basis points from May to September this year to help anchor inflation expectations and address second round effects.
Meantime, De Leon discussed the government’s bold fiscal program, under which tax reform generates additional revenues to fund vital and long over-due infrastructure projects launched under the Government’s Build, Build, Build program.
The infrastructure thrust is aimed to further create jobs, improve connectivity, attract investments, and increase the country’s productive capacity.
Under the Build, Build, Build initiative, big-ticket infrastructure projects are being rolled out all over the country to squarely address the infrastructure gap.
In doing so, the National Treasurer said that the government is mindful of keeping the fiscal deficit within manageable levels — at 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2019 and 3.0 percent for 2020 to 2022.
On the Philippine government’s bond offerings, de Leon said that in recent years, such have “been very well-received by the international market as evidenced by the bonds’ favorable pricing.”